Nashville's Valor charter school attracts unique racial, class mix

Middle school's founder has passion for diversity

Mar. 12, 2014

Emily Wycoff celebrates with her mother, Sharon, on March 6 after she found out she was going to Valor Collegiate Academy, a new charter school at the Martin Professional Development Center. / John Partipilo / The Tennessean

Valor’s incoming class

Cheers came from kids who attend Julia Green and Percy Priest elementary schools in affluent Green Hills and Forest Hills.

Joining them were students from low-income schools off Nolensville and Murfreesboro pikes.

The room had white, black, Latino and Kurdish students, as well as immigrants from Russia and Ukraine.

A cross section of Nashville students showed up Thursday to learn whether they had the right number to get into Valor Collegiate Academy, a new charter middle school set to open this fall on Nolensville Pike in South Nashville beginning with the fifth grade. Some 260 students applied — with parents citing the appeal of diversity and a more demanding learning environment — but only 160 could get in.

There was one room of winners and another with families who struck out. It was easy to distinguish the two.

“We prayed every evening to be enrolled,” said an elated Yulia Fowler, embracing her daughter Diana, excited she can now attend the same school through high school, an arrangement common in her native Ukraine. “I just fell in love immediately.”

Valor is the product of founder Todd Dickson, who came to Nashville from Summit Preparatory in Redwood City, Calif., after a recruiting push from Mayor Karl Dean. From the onset, Dickson set out to produce a school that would attract middle- and upper-class families as well as low-income ones.

He did just that. And make no mistake: This marks new territory for publicly financed, privately run charters in Nashville.

Consider: Valor will be the first charter in Nashville where a plurality of students, at 41 percent, are white. There is no majority race, whereas most Nashville charters are predominantly black.

Valor’s remaining 59 percent is split among African-American, Hispanic and other groups. The school is divided evenly among low-income students and those who aren’t — unheard of for charters in Tennessee, where until only recently, eligible students had to qualify for federal free and reduced-priced lunches.

Its entry comes two years after some families in Green Hills and nearby neighborhoods, many of them white, pushed for Phoenix-based Great Hearts Academies to open a charter in Nashville. Great Hearts was never able to overcome concerns about diversity — some charged it would be a racially segregated school — and it was stifled by the Metro school board.

Unlike Great Hearts, Valor opted for a diverse location for its school and ensured transportation on the front end. Across South Nashville, Valor organizers went door-to-door, held information meetings and posted fliers to get the word out.

“It was an interesting time in history in Nashville when we came in, but it’s also just my personal passion to have diverse schools,” Dickson said. “I think it just spoke to a lot of different people at the right time.

“The ability to critically think is arguably the most important academic skill for college, and a key component of that is understanding multiple perspectives. There’s no better way to do that than being around kids who are bringing different perspectives every day.”

That message resonated: Brandi Kellett, a parent in the 12South neighborhood, had never considered a charter school before — and she feels “conflicted” about choosing one because of financial issues she believes charters impose on the school district. But she saw something in Valor.

“We feel like Valor is the best educational option, and now my kids get to go there all the way through high school,” said Kellett, whose son will start attending Valor this fall. “And we’re super excited to have our kids be around other types of kids. Nashville’s still pretty segregated.”

About Cold Case: Muncie

Debuting in 2010, Cold Case: Muncie is a recurring Star Press series that re-examines unsolved murders — some notable, some forgotten except to the family and friends of the victims — from the Muncie area over the past several decades.

The series, by Douglas Walker and Keith Roysdon, won the award for best news series in 2011 from the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists. An initial cold case story, marking the 25th anniversary of the Westside Park murders in 2010, won the 2011 Kent Cooper Award from the Indiana Associated Press.

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Nashville's Valor charter school attracts unique racial, class mix

Valor Collegiate Academy marks new territory for publicly financed, privately run charters in Nashville. It will be the first charter in Nashville where a plurality of students, at 41 percent, are